Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers
If you’ve enjoyed Chicken Piccata in a restaurant I hope you try making my low-carb gluten-free Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers at home! And please don’t skip the fried capers; they take this recipe to a whole new level of deliciousness.
PIN Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers to try it later!
For this week’s Friday Favorites Pick, I’m reminding you about this delicious Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers, and I think Chicken Piccata is one of those classic dishes that are relatively easy to master, quick to prepare, and always taste great. This unique version of Chicken Piccata caught my eye years ago in Fine Cooking Annual (affiliate link) because the chicken wasn’t dredged in flour, and the combination of capers and lemon is one of my favorites.
But what really sold me on trying this Chicken Piccata recipe was the fried capers. Chinese cooking involves seasoning the oil where garlic and ginger are fried briefly in hot oil before you add other ingredients. Here I think frying the capers in olive oil before you brown the chicken takes Chicken Piccata to a whole new level.
I love capers, so I was tempted to use a lot more capers than the recipe called for! I restrained myself, but if you love capers like I do, go ahead and use a bit more. And I think this flourless Chicken Piccata is special enough to make for dinner guests, and no one will guess it’s a low-carb dish! This might even be a hit with people who haven’t tried capers, and it will be a wow for capers fans, I promise!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Capers (affiliate link)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to season chicken
- Poultry Seasoning (affiliate link)
- finely minced fresh garlic or Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- homemade chicken stock or canned chicken broth (affiliate link)
- fresh lemon juice, I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice
- sweetener of your choice (optional; if you like the sour taste of lemon you probably don’t need sweetener)
- butter, cut up into several pieces
- chopped fresh parsley
What are Capers?
Capers are not berries, but the unopened green flower buds of the Capparis spinosa plant. They have an astringent sharp flavor, and are used a lot in Mediterranean cooking. Capers must be picked by hand, which makes them expensive. They’re sold pickled or salted, and both types are often rinsed. Read more about how to use capers at The Perfect Pantry, where Lydia does such a great job of helping us learn about the ingredients we’re using.
What’s so special about Fried Capers?
If you’re not convinced about the need to fry the capers, read about why Fried Capers are Better than Capers at Bon Appetit!
More Skillet Recipes with Chicken Breasts:
If you like easy chicken dinners where the chicken is cooked in a skillet like this, check out Chicken with Peanut Sauce, Greek Skillet Chicken, or Skillet Chicken with Lemon, Green Olives, and Capers.
How to Make Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Trim chicken breasts and cut in half to make two same-size pieces; then pound with a meat mallet (affiliate link) to make 1/2 inch thick cutlets.
- Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.
- Chop the parsley and garlic, and rinse the capers and pat dry.
- Heat the olive oil in frying pan, add capers and cook until they open slightly and crisp a bit, about 90 seconds.
- Transfer capers to a paper towel and add chicken to the pan.
- Cook chicken over medium-high heat until it’s nicely browned on both sides and cooked through, then transfer to a plate. (You can cover them to keep warm if you prefer.)
- While chicken cooks get the canned chicken broth (affiliate link), butter, and lemon juice measured and ready to go.
- Add garlic to the pan and cook about 30 seconds.
- Then add the stock and scrape to remove all the browned bits, cooking a few minutes until the stock is slightly reduced.
- Stir in the lemon juice (with sweetener if desired), then turn off the heat and add the butter, stirring until it’s melted into the sauce.
- Add half the capers and all the parsley to the sauce.
- Pour sauce over the chicken, then garnish with the rest of the capers and parsley and serve hot, with extra lemon to squeeze on at the table please!
Make it a low-carb Meal:
This Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers would be great with Roasted Asparagus with Garlic, Easy Cauliflower Rice with Garlic and Green Onion, or Pureed Cauliflower with Garlic, Parmesan, and Goat Cheese for a low-carb meal.
What Else Tastes Great with Capers:
- Slow Cooked Salmon with Butter, Garlic, Capers, and Lemon
- Grilled Chicken with Lemon and Capers
- Chicken with Olives and Capers
Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers
I love this Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers; if you like capers and chicken you're going to love this low-carb version of this classic recipe!
Ingredients
- 3 very large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 T capers (see notes)
- 2 T olive oil
- salt and pepper to season chicken
- 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
- 2 tsp. finely minced fresh garlic
- 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock (see notes)
- 2 T fresh lemon juice (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp. sweetener of your choice (optional; if you like the sour taste of lemon you probably don’t need sweetener)
- 2 T butter, cut up into several pieces
- 1 T chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Trim all visible fat and undesirable membranes from chicken breasts. Cut each one in half to make two pieces about the same size.
- One at a time, put pieces inside a heavy Ziploc bag and pound chicken with a meat mallet (affiliate link) or something heavy to make it an even 1/2 inch thick.
- Season chicken with a small amount of salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.
- Chop parsley and set aside. Rinse the capers and pat dry with paper towels.
- In a 12-inch nonstick frying pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. I used my Green Pan (affiliate link), which worked well for this recipe.
- When oil is hot, add capers and fry until they open slightly and crisp a little, took 60-90 seconds for me. Remove pan from heat and use a spoon to transfer capers to paper towel, letting the oil drip back into pan.
- Get oil hot again, then saute chicken on top side until nicely browned, about 3-4 minutes. Turn over and cook on other side until chicken is done, probably only 1-2 minutes on the second side, but be sure chicken is cooked through.
- Arrange chicken on serving dish with the most browned side facing up. (You can cover them to keep warm if you want, but I didn’t and they were fine.)
- While chicken browns, measure out chicken stock, garlic, butter, and lemon juice (plus sweetener if using) so they’re ready.
- Add garlic to hot pan and cook 15-30 seconds. Add chicken stock, and scrape pan to dissolve browned bits.
- Cook until stock is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice (and sweetener if using), then turn off heat and add butter, stirring until butter is melted.
- Add half of capers and parsley to sauce, then pour sauce over chicken, garnishing with remaining capers.
Notes
Feel free to use a little more capers if you love capers as much as I do. You can use canned chicken broth, but I would make sure it's low-sodium since capers are salty. I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice for this recipe.
This recipe was slightly adapted from Fine Cooking Annual.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 215Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 4gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 75mgSodium 231mgCarbohydrates 2gFiber 0gSugar 1gProtein 23g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers doesn’t use flour which makes it great for any low-carb, Keto, or low-glycemic diet plan. Butter isn’t recommended for the original South Beach Diet, but I think the small amount of butter here is important for flavor and I would eat this for any phase of the South Beach diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Skillet Meals to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for This Recipe:
Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers was first posted in 2007! The recipe was last updated with more information in 2023, and if you check the comments you’ll see that many, many people have enjoyed this through the years!
67 Comments on “Chicken Piccata with Fried Capers”
Looks great!! Also, love your version of Low-carb and KETO!
Great recipe,Thanks for sharing it.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Love this recipe. Thanks for posting, I haven’t made it in a while, and now am craving it!
So glad to hear you have enjoyed it! That’s what Friday Favorites is all about!
informative article. very nice.
I love the idea of fried capers – capers are my favorite but I haven’t been using them in my cooking lately. Now I’m really craving this!
Thanks Aggie! I’m a HUGE capers fan too!
omg delicious!! I was scared to try this recipe because I've tried making chicken piccata before and it turned out ridiculously tart. But for some reason this came out perfectly! Just enough tartness to make it delicious! Definitely adding this to my rotation!
Thanks Jennifer; so glad you enjoyed it!
I know this was posted a long time ago, but we made this one for the first time last night. It was delicious!!! We doubled the capers, because like you, we love them. This is going into the rotation immediately!! Thank you!!
So glad you enjoyed it, and yaay for capers! Love them so much.
Thanks for the shout-out. It's so much easier to cook with ingredients when you understand a little more about them! I'm not a huge fan of capers, but there is little to compare to the lemony, almost floral flavor.
Lydia, I'll have your share of the capers!
Diana, glad you liked it!
I made this recipe tonight. I cut it down for just one person, since my fiance does not enjoy capers. It was really delicious and easy. I had more than enough sauce to enjoy with the chicken.
This recipe is great, thank you so much for such a great blog! I just started South Beach on Sunday (down 5lbs already, woo hoo!) and your site as been a lifesaver! I made this recipe last night, and your mustard chicken on Monday, and your spinach and leek breakfast casserole on Monday as well–all great receipes! Thanks also for making your site mobile-friendly–I cook a lot right off my IPhone (my husband says it's not the best idea to keep my $300 IPhone next to a hot stove, but what does he know, haha!)–so having the site mobile-friendly has been a livesaver. Thanks again!
Ken, I think that sounds like a brilliant idea to use fried capers with swordfish!
Hi, liked the idea of the fried capers, so I lifted the idea and made a Swordfish Piccata with fried capers last night. Came out incredible; pan-seared the fish quickly and poached in white wine, reduced the liquid plus lemon juice and sauteed capers/Vidalia onions to make the Piccata sauce. Really nice…. – Ken
Thanks for letting me know (and I love hearing about kids eating capers!)
Thank you Kayln the picatta was a bit hit on our table last night, even with the caper wary kids!
Lexi, that's great! Glad you liked the recipe too.
Made it last night. Loved it. Thanks for all the great suggestions. Enjoy your preparation photos. Very helpful! I am so happy I found your blog. Down 15 lbs. and counting!
Oh Jen, so happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
I made this last night and we loved it. Thanks!
Frying the capers really makes a difference in this dish.
Your Chicken Piccata recipe sounds exquisite. We like capers but never thought about frying them first. Very nice tip. Thank you for sharing. Very nice post.
Sally, don't you just love Fine Cooking! It's my absolute favorite food magazine.
Georgia, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I made this tonight, sort of….I'm bad about reading ingredients and then proceeding on my own, so I didn't exactly follow your instructions. Still, it was delicious!
I've had this recipe from Fine Cooking in my files ever since it was published. I love capers, must make it soon…
Renie, so glad to hear you have enjoyed it!
This recipe is a big staple in our household, my husband gets excited when he hears I'm making this! Frying the capers made such a big difference from the recipes of my past!
Thanks Paula. I love capers too, and I love this recipe.
I love capers but don't cook with them much. Glad to have this recipe.
Glad this appeals to you; I loved this recipe when I tested it.
Thanks for posting. I love chicken piccata and am always looking for new South Beach safe recipes.Thanks!
Sarah, thanks, that's always nice to hear!
This is my third time making this! I had meant to leave a comment before, this is truly a delicious dish! I find myself almost licking my plate for every last bit of the sauce! lol.
Glad you liked it. I love it that people are discovering this recipe since it's been here so long!
Yummy!! The fried capers added a nice twist to the dish!!
Eliza, I was also really impressed with the fried capers when I made this. Glad you liked it, and as long as it's good, who cares if you follow the recipe exactly?
I made this tonight and totally messed up and added the broth with the lemon juice and maple syrup at the same time. It was still really good. The fried capers are awesome though and I would double or triple them for next time. I would fry capers for other things too!
We're big caper fans and also buy the big jar at Costco. We use capers in our tuna, grilled cheese, paninis, salads (with greens and pasta), and just even for snacking for the kids (ages 2 and 6). They're also a must with anything salmon (salmon, caper, and brie pizza?!). I'm trying this recipe tonight!
Slice, thanks for letting me know you liked it!
This was AWESOME!!!! Loved the sweet and salty taste. I could eat this everyday with your cheesey zucchini.
Kristi, glad you liked it!
This was really good, healthy, and not too complicated! My husband and I both loved it. He recommended I make this when we have guests. Thank you for sharing!
Believe it or not, I’d never tried capers until a couple of years ago when My Man bought me some for Christmas. LOL That sounds weird but they were part of a “cooking basket” that he whipped up for me. He’d never tried them and never will again..grin…but I loved ’em!
Thanks for this recipe, Kalyn; I’m back “on the beach” and really need the inspiration.
This looks great — I am a total caper fanatic. The bright green parsley adds a nice touch, too. I like to serve chicken piccata with capers in a white wine sauce and then garnish with large caper berries and lemon slices.
I just tried this tonight and it was absolutely wonderful. I forgot to add the splenda, it did not even need it. I will definitely be making this often!
Rebecca and Dale – thanks for the feedback. I loved it, so I’m glad to hear that it turned out well for you too.
I’ve tried this twice now and it’s just delicious! Thanks so much!
I’ve never tried capers before but my buy a bottle one day if I get into the capers mood. Thanks for providing the list of capers recipes. I then don’t have to crack my brain on what else I can use capers for!
What a yummy dish, we are cooking with capers today!! So all around the world alike tastes!! 🙂
It looks fantastic. Piccata without capers is just not right. The idea of frying them is great as while I like the taste of capers, I never enjoyed the texture of them.
Can’t wait til I can cook that piccata, so utterly tempting I broke my fast and ate a whole jar of giant Sicilian capers last night.
I love capers, and that picture shows them off perfectly!
Hooray, my friend Sandy left a comment on the blog. This is the person I used to have so much fun doing the D.C. restaurant thing with when we were on the NEA Board together. (That’s National Education Association for those who don’t know.)
Kalyn,
I’m taking this little number to Florida when we go at spring break. Marthat loves capers and it looks so easy. I’m drooling as I type!!
Sandy-NV
Tanna, thanks as always for your nice compliments.
Jeena, capers are great if you like tart flavors.
CC, I was quite intrigued by it too, and it’s a keeper.
Sandy-la, thanks so much!
Susan have to look for those brands. I get a huge jar of them at Costco, which works for me, but it can be a challenge to use them up.
Mimi, you’re welcome. Glad you like South Beach.
Lydia, thanks so much. I’m sometimes not overly thrilled with my photos, but I did like how this one turned out. Thanks for the good caper info.
Kalyn, thanks for the mention. This looks like another of your elegant, yet not complicated, recipes. And your photos are getting more and more luscious!
I’ve been thinking of making Chicken Piccata, Kalyn, this will give me the incentive I need.
My husband had this on our second date – but i”ve only made it once.
Thanks for the link – SBD is wonderful!
I am a huge fan of capers and use them frequently in my cooking. While some brands are expensive, I’ve shopped around and found Goya and Cento both offer good values.
Sounds delicious! As usual, I enjoy your amazing blog!
Frying the capers first! That sounds irresistible.
Hey Kalyn, Nice recipe with capers – I don’t see to many caper recipes around I havn’t tried them yet myself 🙂
Chicken Piccata is one of my husband’s favorites, I must try this one. Looks wonderful!